The Weekenders: A Novel by Mary Kay Andrews

Books Description:

Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Others come only for the weekends-and the mix between the regulars and “the weekenders” can sometimes make the sparks fly. Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on Belle Isle when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found.
So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets, and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens...in a murderous way. Cocktail parties aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.
Told with Mary Kay Andrews’ trademark blend of humor and warmth, and with characters and a setting that you can’t help but fall for, The Weekenders is the perfect summer escape.

This is the third time I have read this book because I wanted to make sure that the first two readings weren't a fluke, that maybe I was having a bad day when I read it and that is why I didn't like it the first two readings...but alas, no.

I must really be out of it by rating this book so low when everyone else seems to have loved it I did not love it, I actually didn't even like it.

This is going to be more like a rant than a review and please excuse me for doing so:

Ms. Andrews seems to have decided that she was not going to be writing humorous books anymore, this book is filled with angst and awful characters including the main characters. Perhaps Ms. Andrews has had something terrible happen in her life that started about three books (or so) ago, but whatever happened this doesn't even seem to be her writing

I know that author's don't always want to stick to the script that we the readers have come to love and dare I say, expect. They want to branch out and let their muse fly free. Well, that is all well and good but this book just bites the big one for me.

And here is why:

I just wanted to b*tch slap Maggy. I have never met a more horrid child in all my life. Yes, her father was murdered so I gave her leeway for that, but how she treats her mother was just beyond my comprehension. 

The plot- well, having Riley's husband steal all of her and her families money was done before (see Savanah Breeze) and done a bit better.

Having a daughter with Type 1 Diabetes would have worked if it hadn't been stressed, discussed and explained on nearly every page. This daughter is also disrespectful (she is 12 going on 40) to nearly everyone around her (calling her mother a bitch and a whore are just two examples)-and the mother just pretty much accepts it. Illness and death should not excuse this sort of behavior all the way like it did in this book.

Then we have Bebo -Riley's brother and a high functioning alcoholic.

A murder where, of course, the heroine is the first person the police suspect.

A romance that is tepid at the very best. 

Rant over ---I think!

This book was so dark with so many side stories that I breathed a sigh of relief to get it over with. Yes, I was shocked by who-dun-it and that was good (that is why the extra star). As a beach read I would say stay away.